Lord of the Rings fans in Porirua are getting a rare glimpse into big-budget moviemaking.
A spokeswoman for Lord of the Rings production company Three Foot Six said a small “break-off unit” was filming some “pick-up shots” at Whitirea Park over the weekend. However, by this morning the film set had swelled.
Three large marquees, eight freight trucks full of gear and several security guards this morning watched over 100 actors dressed in costume filming what appeared to be a battle scene. No big stars were visible.
Film set manager Peter Tonks refused to comment on how long the set would film in Porirua. The company’s Whitireia Park Board filming permit expires on Thursday. The park is open to the public during filming.
Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn) ‘A Walk on the Moon’ STARZ Sean Bean (Boromir) ‘Ronin’ SHOW3 & ‘Airborne’ MAX Ian Holm (Bilbo) ‘Alien’ KVOS Sean Bean (Boromir) ‘Stormy Monday’ KXLY Hugo Weaving (Elrond) ‘Babe: Pig in the City’ STARZ & ‘Bedrooms & Hallways’ HBOZ Miranda Otto (Eowyn) ‘The Well’ SUNDAE Elijah Wood (Frodo) ‘Deep Impact’ SHOW2 & ‘Radio Flyer’ FAM John Rhys-Davies (Gimli) ‘Perry Mason: The Case of the Fatal Framing’ KSTC & ‘King Solomon’s Mines’ KWKT Sean Astin (Sam) ‘Bulworth’ MAX & ‘Harrison Bergeron’ WXIV Christopher Lee (Saruman) ‘Gremlins 2: The New Batch’ KSWB & ‘Horror Express’ WNVT & ‘Diagnosis: Murder’ TMN Nathaniel Lees (Ugluk) ‘Bonjour Timothy’ WAM
Monday, September 18
Viggo Mortensen (Aragron) ‘Witness’ TSO Hugo Weaving (Elrond) ‘Proof’ IFC Cate Blanchett (Galadriel) ‘Elizabeth’ TMC Ian McKellen (Gandalf) ‘Apt Pupil’ TMC & ‘Gods & Monsters’ TMN John Rhys Davies (Gimli) ‘Desperado: Badlands Justice’ Sean Astin (Sam) ‘Kimberly’ TMC & ‘Toy Soldiers’ ENCACT & ‘The War of the Roses’ WACH & ‘White Water Summer’ TNTI
Tuesday, September 19
Elijah Wood (Frodo) ‘Avalon’ TNTI Christopher Lee (Saruman) ‘Police Academy 7: Mission to Moscow’ FLIX & ‘Moulin Rouge’ TCM Bernard Hill (Theoden) ‘The Ghost and the Darkness’ WAPA Brad Dourif (Wormtongue) ‘Amos & Andrew’ TNT Sean Astin (Sam) ‘Toy Soldiers’ MAX
Wednesday, September 20
Ian Holm (Bilbo) ‘The Last of the Blonde Bombshells’ HBOPL Ian McKellen (Gandalf) ‘Gods and Monsters’ SUNDAE John Rhys-Davies (Gimli) ‘Victor/Victoria’ TNTI Christopher Lee (Saruman) ‘1941’ HBOC Bernard Hill (Theoden) ‘True Crime’ HBOPL & ‘William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ HBOPL Brad Dourif (Wormtongue) ‘Murder in the First’ TNT Sean Astin (Sam) ‘Like Father Like Son’ TMN
Thursday, September 21
Ian Holm (Bilbo) ‘eXistenZ’ SHOW & ‘Juggernaut’ TNTI Hugo Weaving (Elrond) ‘Reckless Kelly’ TMC Elijah Wood (Frodo) ‘Internal Affairs’ WTVZ Ian McKellen (Gandalf) ‘Restoration’ ENCORE & ‘Six Degrees of Separation’ TNTI Orlando Bloom (Legolas) ‘Wilde’ SHOW2
Friday, September 22
Ian McKellen (Gandalf) ‘And the Band Played On’ LMN
Saturday, September 23
Liv Tyler (Arwen) ‘Plunkett and Macleane’ TMN Sean Astin (Sam) ‘Toy Soldiers’ MAX
Great big REAL pics from Vanity Fair! This is sooooo smacktacular!!!
Vanity Fair shows us our real first look at Ian McKellen (Gandalf) Liv Tyler (Arwen) and Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn) as well as the Hobbit boys, Elijah Wood (Frodo) Billy Boyd (Pippin) Dominic Monaghan (Merry) and Sean Astin (Sam). Lets hope the next time Vanity Fair will give them the cover!
YouthStream Media Networks and New Line Cinema Sign Multi-Picture Deal to Promote the Hottest Releases on Campuses Across the Country
New Line Commits 10 Films for Advance Screenings at YouthStream’s On-Campus Network Event Theaters Sept. 11, 2000– YouthStream Media Networks an integrated media and marketing services company targeting teens and young adults, today announces a partnership with New Line Cinema in which YouthStream’s Network Event Theater division (NET) will premiere 10 future New Line releases on college campuses across the country.
Utilizing its theater network on nearly 80 campuses,including many of the largest colleges and universities in the country, YouthStream will advance screen ten New Line releases over an 18-month period. New Line’s slate of upcoming films includes Adam Sandler’s Little Nicky, Thirteen Days, starring Kevin Costner, and the highly-anticipated The Lord of the Rings.
In addition to screening its films on campuses, New Line will promote the films to students using YouthStream’s integrated on-campus media properties, which include the country’s leading college newspaper advertising service, the country’s leading campus postering service, and the largest network of on-campus wallboards. YouthStream will also provide New Line with online advertising and promotion on sixdegrees and Teen.com, YouthStream’s online communities. (more)
As Artistic Director of the ‘Stage Company of S.A.’ for ten years, John Noble was involved in South Australia’s cultural explosion in the 1970’s and 80’s.
He performed with all of the States major arts companies. He also directed on London’s West End (David Williamson’s Sons of Cain), and acted in an award winning production at the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland (Rob George’s Errol Flynn’s Great Big Adventure Book For Boys). He was a cultural guest in Texas as part of S.A’s sesquicentennial sister-state celebrations in 1985, and in 1986 represented Australia at the New Zealand Playwrights Conference in Christchurch. Other highlights include:
Producing over 70 new Australian plays.
240 performances of Ron Blair’s one man play ‘The Christian Brothers’.
Commissioning and directing the enormously successful Percy and Rose for the 1982 Adelaide Festival of Arts and subsequent National tour.
Producing four major pieces for the 1984 Festival of Arts, including the memorable Masterclass.
He served an eight-year term as a Trustee of the Adelaide Festival Centre. In that time he was associated in the Australian productions of Cats and La Miserable. He was chairman of the inaugural Australian Drama Festival in Adelaide in 1982, and was a foundation member and chairman of the Association of Community Theatres. In 1984 the Premier of S.A. Mr. John Bannon nominated him as Young Australian of the Year for his work in the Arts.
John is Head of Drama at Brent Street School of Arts. He has conducted master classes at N.I.D.A., Flinders University, the R.A.A.F., The Centre for Performing Arts, Carclew Youth Drama Camps, the S.A. Education Department, the National Book Council and the NSW & ACT Writers Centres. He has a private teaching studio specialising in presentation skills, accent modification, and film and TV performance and audition preparation.
As an actor, he has had guest roles in TV series Big Sky, Police Rescue, Water Rats, Timetrax, Above the Law and Tales of the South Pacific. For the last two and a half years he has a semi-regular role in All Saints as the neuro surgeon Dr John Madsen. He appeared in the mini-series Hills End, and films The Dreaming, Nostradamus Kid, A Sting in the Tail and Call me Mr. Brown. In 1999 played Sorrentino in the telemovie Airtight, and Mr. Norris in the feature film The Monkeys Mask. In 2000 he played a support lead in the telemovie A Virtual Nightmare. He will play Denethor in two films in the Lord of the Rings trilogy later this year.
Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn) ‘A Walk on the Moon’ STARZ 
Sean Bean (Boromir) ‘Ronin’ SHOW3 & ‘Airborne’ MAX 
Ian Holm (Bilbo) ‘Alien’ KVOS 
Hugo Weaving (Elrond) ‘Babe: Pig in the City’ STARZ & ‘Bedrooms & Hallways’ HBOZ 
Miranda Otto (Eowyn) ‘The Well’ SUNDAE
Elijah Wood (Frodo) ‘Deep Impact’ SHOW2 & ‘Radio Flyer’ FAM 
Sean Astin (Sam) ‘Bulworth’ MAX & ‘Harrison Bergeron’ WXIV
Christopher Lee (Saruman) ‘Gremlins 2: The New Batch’ KSWB & ‘Horror Express’ WNVT & ‘Diagnosis: Murder’ TMN
Nathaniel Lees (Ugluk) ‘Bonjour Timothy’ WAM 
Cate Blanchett (Galadriel) ‘Elizabeth’ TMC 
Ian McKellen (Gandalf) ‘Apt Pupil’ TMC & ‘Gods & Monsters’ TMN
Bernard Hill (Theoden) ‘The Ghost and the Darkness’ WAPA 
Brad Dourif (Wormtongue) ‘Amos & Andrew’ TNT 
Orlando Bloom (Legolas) ‘Wilde’ SHOW2 
Liv Tyler (Arwen) ‘Plunkett and Macleane’ TMN
David Wenham (